


Pleasance

by NayaZephronic



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-04
Updated: 2014-12-04
Packaged: 2018-02-28 04:01:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2718053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NayaZephronic/pseuds/NayaZephronic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why isn't Zevran in Inquisition? Especially when he went to help Hawke at the Gallows for (almost) no reason? Where the hell is the Warden?<br/>This is my answer. Take it or leave it. :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pleasance

**Author's Note:**

> And that word? That one in the title? Stupid hard to find. Seriously. and then I find two that mean the same thing. Seriously an hour and 3 people asked and then I can't decided which to use. Both, both is good.

"Servants, we have to have servants?"

Zevran smiled and shook his head, gently tossing his warden's hair to one side to kiss her neck. " _Cara mia_ , this house is large. There is little hope of you maintaining it on your own."

"I know," she relented with a sigh, rubbing at her thumb were her father's ring used to be. She'd worry it when she was anxious. Now it sat on his own hand, but the compulsion still remained. "I just... don't like the idea."

" _Si amora_ , but it is a necessary evil." He took her hand, stopping the repetitive motion.

"They'll be paid, right?"

The assassin gave a snort, having been a slave himself up until very recently; even he would not let such a thing into his home. No, he simply had to let his warden vent her fears. This was all new to her after all. Not since Amaranthine did they have a place that was their own, and not even that had been fully theirs. She had been far too busy dealing with the darkspawn to even notice how the keep had been run. Once she'd given up the title of Warden-Commander to the Howe boy, they'd gone back to the road, avoiding the Crows, mostly. " _Por su puesto_."

He chuckled at the thought, how things never seemed to change.

At least, he thought they'd never change yet here he was standing in the parlor of his own home having been appointed the Guildmaster of his own Antiva City. The Crows have gotten tired of chasing him, it seemed and he, well, he had enough of running, hints the vacancy for the position.

"Human servants?" She asked, as he drew her though the parlor. The house was large as he said, the lower level held the necessities. Servant's quarters, kitchens, and a quiet area to entertain guests. The upper level contained the larger guest rooms, a library for her, she did love her books, a _very_ nice bath house if Zevran had any opinion, and he did, as well as the master suite. All this mattered very little to him, however, though he showed his dear warden all of it, helping her up the stairs when she required it.

"A few," He replied, "I'm sure."

"…I'd feel bad if I start singling them out. I don’t want them to think low of me."

"I am sure they'll come to understand, once it is done with."

What he wanted to show her the most sat in the very center of the house. Glass doors opened to a secluded garden, huge by any standard. It sat in the open air surrounded by the walls of the house and Zevran was very pleased to see that more than a few butterflies had taken up residence among the flowers. For his own _farfalla_ this was perfect.

"It is called a _pleasance,_ or a _domus_ if you visit Tevinter," He told her even as she left his side. He followed, watching her as she drifted though the petals, running her hands along thick leaves, and nearly disappearing in an instant among the tropical foliage. It was nothing like she was used to, Ferelden flora was suited to the cold, tightly packed, thin and tall. Here the plants grew outward rather than upwards, wide leaves with waxy coatings to let the excess rain run off and save the leaves from rotting. There were few trees for climbing, they grew with their branches much higher than the thick foliage below and out of normal reach, but he did not doubt his Dalish would find a way up into it.

When she could.

He wrapped his arms around hers, his hand resting on hers that in turn rested on her swollen belly.

"Zev," She said softly. It was as close to a declaration of affection as she could come without actually saying the words.

" _Cara mia_ ," he replied with the same reverence.

She leaned against his chest and he sighed, wishing he didn't need to share this with her, but he would keep no secrets. "Leliana came for a visit; you slept through it all, unfortunately."

There was a quiet moment of contemplation from her, rolling thoughts around in her head and trying to come to a response. "What did you tell her?"

"She is a friend," he said softly. "I told her the truth."

"So she knows why..." This was not her first pregnancy. Their first child was lost in Amaranthine; she hadn't even known she was pregnant during the fight with The Mother and The Architect. A hard blow from one, or either or both, she wasn't even sure, had ended it. The loss broke her all the same, whatever the case. Zevran would always wonder if her actions there would have been different if not for that.

They had endeavored to be less careless, if they were even granted a second chance and yet, even though they'd tried, fate was not kind. Zevran would always feel like it was his fault, it was the crows that had attacked them after all. Never before had she ever given up a fight so easily. She had been too scared to even lift a dagger, afraid that any motion would lose her the babe again. She begged them to leave her be, to not hurt her baby, but Crows delighted in causing pain and they were not kind.

Zevran had failed to protect her. It was his fault she was heartbroken. His fault she had gone almost completely unresponsive no matter what he did. He'd feared he lost her too along with their child.

It was then that Zevran had taken the fight to the crows themselves. Rooted out every Assassination attempt, drawing them out of Antiva and ending masters and Talons, bringing them across the land, Nevarra, The Free Marches, it hardly mattered, and ending their miserable lives for what they'd done. He'd taken all his anger out on them and they paid dearly for it.

He too was heartbroken.

Now he was Guildmaster, in more danger then he'd ever been in, and yet he could not say he did not feel safe. They had to build a lie that _the hero of Ferelden_ had gone missing, oh how she hated being only known as that. Zevran already had those loyal to him to continue the farce; those that would help keep his warden and child safe and keep any from being the wiser. He had to work quickly, but there was confidence in the future. A thrill of a challenge and little danger to fall back on his warden, as long as he remained vigilant. She would be safe here, she and the child. "She agreed to help us."

"I want to help _her,"_ his warden mumbled, but she couldn't. Not in the capacity that she would like, not with daggers in hand by the bard's side. It hurt his sweet Dalish, not being able to help a friend, but it would hurt more if anything should happen to the child. As much as she did not wish to remain hidden, it was for her own good, at least until the babe no longer needed his mother.

" _Si_ , if she asks we will." They settled under the great _zampa di leone,_ its huge split leaves shading his warden from the harsh Antivan sun. Her fair skin had bronzed just a bit in their time to the north and though he favored the ivory pallor of her skin, he knew very well convincing her that a _parasol_ was necessary was out of the question. "She also demanded regular updates, I could not dissuade her."

His warden laughed.

-

Several months later he sat in the parlor reading over the missives acquired from the last assassination he'd section, more than a little frustrated. His eyes drifted to the crow before him.

"Hey," he said his hands out in a wide gesture. "I didn’t fu-" he bit his tongue and looked over his shoulder, "-know."

"Clearly," Zevran replied, already penning a response to the Inquisitor's spymaster.

The man before him ran a hand through his get black hair. "I'll deliver it myself, if the sh-" another nervous look, "-it helps. She'll be the only one to see it or me, unless she decides otherwise anyway."

It might do him some good, Zevran thought. His warden was clearly making him fidgety, but then, it was his fault for having such a dirty mouth. Lyna would not tolerate it. The Guildmaster gave a nod.

"Anything else you need to tell her?" Zevran tapped the quill against the inkwell. Yes, there was one thing.

The first missive he sent was as flowy and extravagant as Zevran always tented to be, especially to his friends, be damned who read it. He apologized for the mistake and offered his own aid, and was quietly happy to find a way to give into his warden's wishes. They could do little in the way of the fade rifts that had opened up even as far as Antiva, short of evacuating those areas, luckily they seem to be sticking to the wilder areas, nothing close to the coast, close to cities and homes, for now.

The second was a small slip. Private beyond measure and intended for only one person's eyes other than his own. To be destroyed if there was a chance of it falling in another's hand. This was not for the spymaster, but for simple Leliana who had traveled with them during the blight. It read;

_Ps. Her name is Seirian._

 


End file.
